We have compiled a few important announcements released by SEPTA in the past week:

SEPTA Fares to Increase July 1, 2017

The SEPTA Board approved fare changes for Fiscal Year 2018, including modest increases across all modes of travel and methods of payment. SEPTA’s Fiscal Year 2018 begins July 1, 2017, and here is a summary of changes to some of the most widely used fare payment methods (full details can be found here):

• Cash Fare/Quick Trip: Increase from $2.25 to $2.50
• Discounted single ride with SEPTA Key Travel Wallet/Token: From $1.80 to $2
• Disabled Fare: From $1 to $1.25
• Paratransit/Shared Ride: $4 to $4.25
• Weekly TransPass: From $24 to $25.50 (up to 56 trips for one customer)  Continue Reading

Penn students will be moving out of their dorms on Tuesday, May 9 and Wednesday, May 10, so Spruce Street between 34th and 40th Streets will be closed on these days to all traffic, with a few exceptions, from 6:30 a.m. and 8 p.m.

Here are some important reminders in relation to the street closure:

• Emergency vehicles and hospital patient transport vehicles will be permitted access.
• Access will be provided to the Ryan Vet Hospital.
• Bikes will need to be walked on Spruce Street while the streets are closed to traffic.
• SEPTA buses will be re-routed (check septa.org for more information).

The Penn Relays will be held April 27-29 on Franklin Field.

Two big events are happening this weekend in Philadelphia that will cause road closures and traffic changes. The annual Penn Relays will be held on the Franklin Field, and the NFL Draft will take place for the first time since 1960 in the city – on the Benjamin Franklin Parkway. Both events will be held for three days – April 27 through April 29.

The NFL Draft Experience will take place on the Benjamin Franklin Parkway, between 20th St. and Eakins Oval, and a number of road closures will be in place for this event. Until Monday, May 1, 5 a.m., Ben Franklin Parkway from 20th St. to the Art Museum will be closed. Kelly Drive will be closed at Fairmount Ave., and all traffic will be diverted.  Continue Reading

Have you, or someone you know, ever gotten into a traffic accident as a cyclist or pedestrian? Perhaps, you or someone you know was on the other side, behind the driver’s wheel? Either way, you’re certainly not alone. A driver hits a pedestrian every five hours in Philadelphia, according to the website of Vision Zero, an initiative of The City of Philadelphia’s Managing Director’s Office of Transportation & Infrastructure System (oTIS). In 2016, there were 369 deaths and serious injuries as a result of automotive crashes.

oTIS wants to drastically reduce and ultimately eliminate traffic-related deaths (of including but not limited to bikers and pedestrians) throughout the city. Their initiative, Vision Zero, hopes to accomplish this ambitious goal by 2030.

Using municipal data of traffic crashes by neighborhood, the oTIS produces some alarming and urgent statistics. In our previous post, we wrote about Vision Zero’s report that deemed 52nd Street and Baltimore Avenue and 40th and Market streets as the most dangerous intersections in the entire city.  Continue Reading

Chestnut Street is one of the busiest streets in West Philadelphia with three lanes of eastbound traffic with cars often zooming by at high speeds. This Wednesday evening (Apr. 19), the City is hosting an open house on a proposed Chestnut Street transportation project that will help protect bicyclists and pedestrians between 34th and 45th Streets.

The following safety-enhancing features are being proposed:

• Adding a parking protected bicycle lane to the north side of the street with flexible delineator posts
• Shortening the pedestrian crossing distance with painted pedestrian islands
• Calming vehicle speeds by reducing the number of through traffic lanes
• Adding right-turn lanes at appropriate locations

The open house will be held from 6:30 to 8 p.m. at the Enterprise Center (4548 Market St.).

SEPTA is proposing price increases on pretty much everything except transfers. Cash fares will go from $2.25 to $2.50 and discounted fares (with a token or Key card) will increase to $2 from $1.80. If approved the new fares would take effect on July 1, 2017.

This increase was supposed to be proposed last year as part of the plan to raise fares every three years, but was postponed for the rollout of the new SEPTA Key program.

Here are the changes in other SEPTA products:

• Weekly TransPass increases $1.50 to $25.50
• Monthly TransPasses increase from $90 to $96
• Disabled fare increases 25 cents to $1.25
• A Convenience Pass goes up a buck to $9 as do Independence Passes, which go from $12 to $13 for an individual and $20 to $30 for a family.

SEPTA will hold public hearings on its proposed 2018 budget (including the proposed fare increases) in April. The one in Philadelphia (others are in Bucks, Delaware, Montgomery and Chester Counties) is scheduled for Monday, April 24 from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. at SEPTA headquarters, 1234 Market St. Comments can be e-mailed to operatingbudget@septa.org